He smacked the baby’s cheeks as he said, “She is not my patient, she is my relaxation.” The baby reacted gleefully and he smacked and pinched it some more. Gandhi said, “This baby’s father was a sergeant in the British Army stationed at the Northwest Frontier. He was ordered to shoot at Indians. He refused and was sentenced to sixteen years’ imprisonment. He served six years, but there were so many petitions for his liberation that he was released two years ago. Now he lives here with us.” We walked back to Gandhi’s house, and I left him.
On my way home I stopped at the house opposite mine where one of Gandhi’s secretaries lives. During my interviews with Gandhi, he has sat nearest Gandhi. He is short and dark with an in tense face. He has worked with Gandhi for twenty-four years. I asked him what he thought of Gandhi’s statements to me yesterday about allowing the British to remain in India. He said it was very interesting “and very new and much of a shock. I do not believe that any good can come of war. We must not collaborate in any war.” He repeated these statements several times. This was frank criticism of his saintly chief. It did not indicate that Gandhi’s intimate associates were terrorized by him. I later asked the name of this secretary. It is Kishorlal Ghaneshyamlal Masruwala. The middle name is the name of a god.
